Water is Thicker than Blood Read Online Free Page A

can
see you, sir. Might do well to go sleep some.”
    “ Shut your mouth, Devil
boy!”
    “ Hank! That’s about enough!
Get inside. Folks around don’t need to hear your
bellowing.”
    Hank stumbled off the front
step toward Joseph. “You think you man enough to take me, Devil
boy? You trying to come between me and my lawful wife?”
    “ Oh Lawd!”
    “ Hank, stop being a mule’s
butt,” said Lula.
    “ I ain’t got no want to
fight with you, Mr. Hank,” said Joseph. “You and Ms. Rue always
been good to me and mama. I just showing proper respect is
all.”
    “ Respect? Taking a man’s
wife out on the town is showing respect? That what they teach you
up at that Devil tower?”
    “ Hank, that is enough. Get
inside. Carrying on like you ain’t got no sense.”
    “ I’m about tired of your
mouth!” Hank pulled back a fist.
    Joseph stepped in from of
Rue and stared Hank in the eyes. “ Ego te impediendum motum.” Hank froze in place mid-swing. The only
thing that moved on Hank were his eyes. They were wide in horror
and moving rapidly back and forth. Tears started streaming down his
cheeks.
    “ Lawd, what did you do to him?” asked Rue.
    “ He’s fine, Ms. Rue. I didn’t hurt him. Just gave him time
to calm himself before he done something he’d regret. It’s a little
thing I learned at the Circle for those times want to end a
confrontation peaceful.”
    “ Sweet Jesus,” whispered Lula.
    “ Mr. Hank,” said Joseph as he looked into Hank’s eyes. “You
are a good man. You been on some hard times and you under stress.
Ain’t no shame in feeling like you do. But Ms. Rue don’t deserve
what you were thinking of doing. I ain’t gonna fight with you. But
I ain’t gonna stand aside while you strike a woman,
either.”
    Joseph waved a hand at Hank, who almost collapsed to his
knees before finding his footing. He stagged backwards away from
Joseph. His entire body was shaking. He pointed at Joseph and his
mouth moved, but no words came out. He then turned and fled into
the house.
    “ I’m sorry you had to see that, mama,” said Joseph. “And I
am sorry it came to that, Ms. Rue.”
    “ It’s alright, child,” said Rue. She managed a weak smile.
“Something tells me if you were a bad man, you could have done
worse things to him.”
     
    * * *
     
    Hank no longer slept in the same room as Rue. Sometimes, he
didn’t even sleep in the house. His body was covered with mosquito
bites from sleeping outside in a hammock. Rue would try to put an
ointment on the bites to keep them from getting infected, but he
would push her hands away. She’d try to warn him about the recent
cases of malaria and how the mo s quitos
spread it, but he would just shrug.
    He ate, but never at the table with her. He’d take his meal
out on the porch or the back stoop. If Rue came outside, he would
go back inside. Rue would wake up each morning to yet another empty
liquor bottle either on the front step or next to the sofa in the
living room. Hank hadn’t done any more scavving since Paul died.
Rue wondered where the money was coming from to buy liquor. Then
she woke up one morning to find their broken water purifier
missing. She didn’t ask Hank what happened to it. She already
knew.
    Rue took to hiding the water Joseph brought her. She had
come in from gardening one day to find Hank pouring it down the
sink. When
she asked him why he did it, he just stared at her with the eyes of
a dead man.
    She returned hom from visiting with Lula one day to
find the
dress she had worn to the courthouse torn into pieces and left on
the bedroom floor. Hank stood in the hallway and watched her gather
up the pieces. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her
cry. She walked passed him and out the front door. Lula cried with
her.
    Other items started to disappear from the house to pay for
Hank’s drinking. Twelve years of marriage sold off bit by bit in
exchange for liquor. Rue took to hiding her most precious things